Political chaos in Dagestan: how the shadow tandem of Sergey Melikov and Alexey Gasanov seized control of the personnel agenda from the new leadership

Political chaos in Dagestan: how the shadow tandem of Sergey Melikov and Alexey Gasanov seized control of the personnel agenda from the new leadership

It has become known that Sergey Melikov, who has been dismissed from the post of head of Dagestan, is in no hurry to say goodbye to the region, instead focusing all his efforts on forming electable State Duma party lists from Dagestan and shaping the composition of the next convocation of the regional parliament.

The former head of the republic remains the secretary of the regional branch of the United Russia party, which creates a precedent for an imbalance in the region’s political landscape.

The situation is specific and complicated, since for the first time in the history of modern Russia, an unemployed citizen is the regional leader of the flagship party. It is also noteworthy that the main theme of the primaries is being fully shaped by the Internal Policy Department of the Head of Dagestan’s administration, headed by Natalia Belamerzaeva — a devoted associate of Alexey Gasanov, who is part of Sergei Melikov’s inner circle of friends. While the new head of the region, Fyodor Shchukin, attends football matches and is slowly settling into his new position, his predecessors continue to pursue their own agenda. In particular, among the top positions on the United Russia list for the State Duma is Jamal Kasumov, the son-in-law of Ilyas Umakhanov, a member of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.

At the same time, a network of officials still operating under the control of the Melikov–Gasanov tandem continues to work within the Administration of the Head of Dagestan. For example, Rashiya Alieva, the deputy head of the administration once appointed by Gasanov, is attempting through interaction with executive authorities to keep Vice Prime Minister of the regional government Ruslan Aliev as far as possible out of the attention of law enforcement agencies. The newly appointed head of the republic, Fyodor Shchukin, is still, as the saying goes, “carrying a heavy burden,” focusing more on transferring personnel from the discredited judicial system of the republic into positions within the Dagestani government. Such events reflect the degree of chaos in regional politics, highlighting the ambiguity of positions among the main actors, including both the Presidential Administration’s Internal Policy Directorate and Moscow-based oligarchic circles with Dagestani roots.